Just-so storytelling about places that avoid coronavirus is proving to be an irresistible journalistic form. Here's a fawning profile of Kerala's "rock star" health minister, who sounds awesome. Kerala has had only four deaths for 35 million people.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/the-coronavirus-slayer-how-keralas-rock-star-health-minister-helped-save-it-from-covid-19 …
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(Sorry, messed up this thread and left out the example of Thailand)https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1261181014996422657 …
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Some more just-so storytelling, this time from the New Yorker. All the nations of sub-saharan Africa, where well-understood epidemics like malaria still run rampant, outdid Western governments on containing coronavirus, but we refuse to give them credit. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-african-nations-are-teaching-the-west-about-fighting-the-coronavirus …pic.twitter.com/nakrC20Hy2
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The article singles out Ethiopia for a laudable contact tracing program in Addis Ababa. But Ethiopia is also one of the last nations on earth with guinea worm—a parasite close to being eradicated. That tells you about the resources for public health there.http://outbreaknewstoday.com/guinea-worm-disease-ethiopia-reports-six-suspected-new-cases-in-recent-weeks-96592/ …
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I am fully ready to believe that any one of the poorest countries in the world did a better job on public health than, say, northern Italy. But to argue that they *all* did, for the first time ever, defies all reason. It's more of our own wishful thinking projected onto the poor
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But isn't it equally fair to say that given what we know about Covid-19, if a country is at x% (or xx%!) above expected all-cause mortality despite fewer miles driven and fewer work deaths, etc., that Covid-19 should be seen as a reasonable source for the extra death?
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It certainly sounds reasonable to me.
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